The present invention relates in general to dispensing devices and, more particularly, to devices which store and dispense small items such as food, toys, toilet articles, greeting cards and the like. As used herein, the term "item" is intended to include a container, in cases where the actual article or articles of value are individually packaged.
Examples of dispensing devices which are capable of storing and dispensing small individual items are vending machines that automatically vend solid foods packaged in bags made of waxed paper, cellophane or other flexible plastic sheet. Examples of dispensing devices which do not store and release small items are drink dispensing machines in which the liquid (coffee, soft drink syrup or the like) is stored in bulk tanks within the machine. These two types of devices may be distinguished because, in one case, the pre-packaged items to be dispensed must be individually stocked in the machine and, in the other, the goods are supplied to the machine by recharging or replacing the storage tank.
The stocking of dispensing devices which store small individual items is often a tedious and time consuming task. In certain instances, where the items to be dispensed are uniform and regular in external size and shape, they can be loaded in the device rather rapidly by inserting them in storage chutes or magazines. An example of this situation may be found in a cigarette vending machine in which cigarette packs may be rapidly inserted into vending chutes or magazines in the machine without the necessity for individual handling.
On the other hand, there are many types of small items which, because of their irregular size and shape, cannot be stored and dispensed from chutes in a dispensing device. In addition to the problem of selecting chutes of the right dimensions to match the different sizes and shapes of items of the same or different kind, the irregularity of the individual items makes it difficult to reliably dispense them from a chute.
To handle this type of item, it has been the practice in the vending machine art to utilize at least one screw or helix to positively retain and control the position of the individual items, and to cycle them forward to the front of the machine where they are released, one by one, and dispensed by gravity. Examples of such helical devices in vending machines may be found in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,335,907; 3,601,281 and 3,883,039.
Machines of the aforementioned type which employ one or more helices in the vending process have the disadvantage of requiring the items to be separately and individually loaded into the helical "track" by hand. For this reason the servicing of such machines takes considerable time and requires special training so that labor costs for restocking the machines are comparatively high.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus or device which facilitates the rapid stocking of a dispensing device, such as a vending machine, with small individual items, particularly items which have an irregular or non-uniform size and shape.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for rapidly stocking a dispensing device, such as a vending machine, with small individual items, particulaly items which have an irregular or non-uniform size and shape.